The invention relates to a method and pipe-bending device for manufacturing a pipe-offset for a connector at the end of a pipe, needed in the extension of the connector of a pipe of a pipe layer installed on a surface, for example on the wall, in which said pipe-offset for the connector, i.e. two consecutive bends, are manufactured close to the end of the pipe due to the need of room of the connector, in order to move the end of the pipe in parallel to a certain distance from the level of the pipe layer, and in which the bends are achieved by placing the pipe between two lasts, which are pressed against each other with the help of an operating device and in which there is a pipe-offset of the connector, i.e. forms equal to both bends.
Different types of pipe lines are installed in the industry to be used in pneumatic, hydraulic and lubrication systems. The pipes are usually installed next to each other as a neat pipe layer when the targets are in the same direction. It becomes necessary especially in connection with the renewal of apparatus to make pipe extensions with the help of pipe connectors, which do not in any way fit inside the thick pipe layer but the pipe that is fitted with the connector need therefore be fitted with a pipe-offset for the connector, i.e. the pipe must be bent outwards from the level of the pipe layer. Two consecutive bends are needed, by which the end of the pipe is moved outwards in parallel from the level of the pipe layer. In case such joints are needed for pipes that are situated next to each other, they are usually made by overlapping three pipe extensions at a distance from each other in the longitudinal direction, whereby the fourth pipe connector can again be on the same line with the first one.
Nowadays there has not been any suitable tool for manufacturing the pipe-offset for a connector at the place of installation and it has been necessary to remove the pipe in its entirety in order to fix it in a vice or in an pipe-bending tool that is otherwise in a fixed position. Two people have often been needed for bending a pipe. Lasts for manufacturing a pipe-offset have been in use before as such, but only in fixed pipe-bending machines. The installation work at the place of rebuilding has been rather difficult and slow, because it has been necessary to remove each pipe from its surface or to fit the pipe-offset for the connector to the previous installation. Rather little force is needed in the bending of the pipes that are less than 10 mm as to their diameter, but a hydraulic cylinder is probably the only possibility for an operating device in the bending of pipes of already 15 mm or more.
Portable pipe-bending devices are known as such, but they are not suitable for manufacturing a pipe-offset for a connector, because the force needed is essentially greater than that of a pipe of corresponding measurements in the making of one bend.
The object of this invention is to achieve a method for producing pipe-offsets for connectors that makes the installation work easier and a corresponding pipe-bending tool. A method for manufacturing a pipe-offset for a connector at the end of a pipe, needed in the extension of the connector of the pipe of a pipe layer installed on a surface, for example on the wall, in which said pipe-offset for the connector, i.e. two consecutive bends are manufactured close to the end of the pipe due to the need of space of the connector, in order to move the end of the pipe in parallel to a certain distance from the level of the pipe layer, and in which the bends are produced by placing the pipe between two lasts, which are pressed against each other with the help of an operating device and in which lasts there are the forms equal to the pipe-offset of the connector, i.e. both bends, characterized in that a portable, hand-carried tool is provided, which tool includes the said lasts and an operating device and by forming the lasts to be at least in a limited manner rotatable around the axle that is in the direction of the pressure, and that the pipe is supported in such a manner that its end may be bent flexibly at a certain distance from the surface and the tool is used directly at the place of installation of the extension of the connector and by turning the lasts in the direction of the pipe in such a manner that it can be placed between these.
A portable hand tool to manufacture the pipe-offset of a connector in a pipe for the extension of the connector, for example in the pipe of a pipe layer installed on the wall, in which said pipe-offset for the connector, i.e. two consecutive bends are manufactured close to the end of the pipe due to the need of space of the connector, in order to move the end of the pipe in parallel to a certain distance from the level of the pipe layer, which tool includes a frame, an operating device, steering devices in order to steer the power supply to the operating device, two opposite lasts including the forms of the pipe-offset for the connector, one of which is to be used by the operating device for linear movement, and the other being placed in a fixed manner against the linear movement, and in which case the straight pipe fixed between the lasts that are set open is arranged to be bent in the form regulated by the lasts by pressing one against the other on the operating device, characterized in that the tool has a handle in its frame and the operating device is fitted onto the external power supply or to function with the battery that belongs to the tool, and that there is at least one guide and a slide on the guide for supporting the moving last. According to the most profitable form of application the lasts are installed to the auxiliary frame, which is able to turn at least in a limited manner, most profitably all the way around, whereby the hand-hold of the device can be essentially the same notwithstanding the direction of the pipe lines that are to be installed. An ergonomic work approach requires that the handhold cannot turn into a difficult direction. According to one profitable form of application the steering apparatus of the operating device, for example an electric switch, are fixed to the handle, but a foot switch is also possible. The operating device is most profitaably a hydraulic cylinder, by which the necessary force is achieved for the thick pipes, but even battery operated operating devices equipped with conveyor screws can come into question especially in case of smaller pipes. The pressurized hydraulic oil needed by the hydraulic cylinder is produced by a hydraulic apparatus, which is connected to a tool according to the invention by connection leads of the necessary length. Instead of hydraulic machines it is possible to use devices that are correspondingly pneumatic. The operations of the hydraulic and pneumatic apparatus are steered by the operating devices for example with the help of an electric cable connection.
According to one profitable form of application, the fixed last is supported from the end of the guides of the moving last. Supporting bars situated underneath the lasts are profitably also used, whereby stiffness is achieved by the structure at the same time that the lasts are still open from the top. In order to bend the thick pipes an auxiliary pipe that is installed on top of the lasts may be profitably used, which effectively stiffens the auxiliary frame and the end part that is connected to it.
The other application forms and advantages of the invention are presented later in connection with the application examples, which are presented in the adjoining figures.